The need of the hour is to free research in India from all fetters and to appreciate its true academic value by enhancing its humanistic impact. This must begin with the researcher who must have the courage to walk new paths
Research forms the highest and most crucial point of culmination in the career of an undergraduate student. In the context of liberal arts programmes within Indian universities, the situation is slightly contradictory.
Most of the admissions in subjects like history, sociology, philosophy or literature happen, usually, because either these subjects are considered to be convenient, with less classroom burden, or they usually form alternative career choices for students, with no other available option after passing from high school. The unfortunate part of this situation is that very few students actually possess a holistic vision of where their subjects will take them after undergraduation.
This, at an obvious level, translates into confusion with regard to future career choices, after undergraduation, or half-hearted attendance in postgraduate classes. The overall result is that MPhil/Phd seats in India, within the liberal arts programme, are filled by students with an incomplete vision of possibilities of where research can take them.
let us take the case study of the situation of English literature in Indian universities to understand this better. A lot of research proposals in this discipline are quite often related to either a writer — a popular canon or some already-explored domain, which continues to be fashionable. Though more often than once, researchers do display the desired sensitivity to their community or region concerned, there are rare cases of that kind of research being churned, which can genuinely be qualified as being excellent as per international standards. In all of this, quite often the problem is that of methodology. Usually those topics are considered to be convenient on which there are enough existing literature, or where the availability of handy bibliographies is assured without any demands of field work. At times this then results in rehashing of an already discussed issue.
The need of the hour for a conscientious and serious researcher is to be clear about what is it that specific disciplinary boundaries have to offer in the light of his/her specific research interests. An appraisal should then be made of the interest areas and specialisation of the specific guide/consultant/supervisor who is desired to be chosen by a student. Requisite time to field-work should be given before a topic is finalised. A perusal must be done of the existing literature on the chosen topic. At the same time, an appraisal should be made on how one’s work can be path- breaking, which can only happen when one is genuinely interested in making new contributions.
Also, there can and should be no shortcuts to honest research. This is where — within the context of liberal arts programmes — quite often perusal of existing literature is only a minimal requirement. In a humanistic and interactive discipline of the nature of literature, these efforts need to be supplemented by visits to archives, conversations with experts and a genuine academic interest of being sure about how one’s research interests would contribute towards the holistic process of collectively contributing towards a better understanding of one’s nation.
This is where researchers need to be very conscious about making correct interpretations of the often suggested ‘breaking of boundaries’, wherein they should desirably go beyond their disciplinary frontiers to be conscious of the social, economic, and political realities around them. This can only happen if they persistently engage themselves with newspapers, meaningful discourse on the nation as well as some form of desired social activism which consistently adds more meaning to their research.
In more senses than one, this means that a researcher should understand the significance of publications, articulation of meaningful discourse and translation of a desirable research ethic into a meaningful contribution to the society which gives more emphasis to creation of value and job satisfaction rather than mere monetary benefits.
Quite often, the final phases of pursuing research within liberal arts programme should consist of a meaningful interaction with the country’s history, an enthusiastic engagement with distinct Indian languages and communities, an honest and sustained amount of field work through scholarly work or archiving, a dissemination of new ideas and concepts envisaged through this work with the wider academic and non academic community, and most importantly, through the possession of a research vision. This means of research should often be undertaken when the researcher encounters a genuine research question which needs to be shared with the wider human community.
The need of the hour is to free research in India from all fetters and to appreciate its true academic value by enhancing its humanistic impact. That a researcher can begin this rather very important task through creating a starting point to this idea, should be a reality whose time has indeed arrived.
(The writer is pursuing her doctoral studies from JNU, Delhi. She also teaches at Delhi University)